This invention relates to a single player poker game, and more particularly to a single player poker game that can be played as an electronic video poker game or as a live table game and in which the player has the option to select one of four separate, initial hands. The four separate, initial hands can be dealt from a single deck of cards or from four separate decks of cards. The player then selects one of the four separate, initial hands to play. The player plays out the selected hand as a draw poker hand. During the play of the hand, such as on either the initial deal of cards or on the deal of replacement cards, the player may also randomly receive a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker or both Jokers in a separate portion of the video screen display.
If, at the end of the play of the hand, the player has received a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker or both Jokers, the player is awarded a bonus feature in which the Joker is substituted seriatim for each card in the hand that corresponds to the color of the Joker. A poker hand ranking is determined for each instance of substitution of the Joker and the player receives additional payouts in accordance with the pay table.
The method of the present invention can be played as a casino wagering game or, alternatively, the method of the present invention can also be displayed on a non-wagering amusement device.
There have been many types of electronic video gaming machines that have been developed. The electronic video poker gaming machine is designed to replicate the play of a hand of poker. Typically, the player is not playing against any other player""s hands or against a dealer""s hand; the player is simply attempting to achieve the highest ranking poker hand possible from the cards displayed to the player. The higher the ranking of the poker hand achieved by the player, the greater the player""s winnings based on the number of coins, tokens or credits wagered by the player. Typically, a payout schedule is posted on the gaming machine to advise the player of the payoffs available for certain winning card combinations.
The forerunner of all electronic video poker gaming machines is the video Draw Poker machine that deals cards from a standard 52 card poker deck and displays a single five card hand to the player. The player then selects which of the five cards he wishes to hold (or discard depending on the format of the gaming machine). The draw poker machine then displays replacement cards for the cards the player has discarded. The player wins or loses based on conventional poker hand rankings for the resulting five card hand. In video Draw Poker, the conventional poker hand rankings that are winning combinations are a Royal Flush, a Straight Flush, a Four of a Kind, a Full House, a Flush, a Straight, a Three of a Kind, a Two Pair and a Pair of Jacks or Better. A payout table is established based on the number of coins wagered by the player and the type of poker hand achieved.
The classic draw poker machine has been modified to use jokers as wild cards or to use deuces (or even other cards) as wild cards. xe2x80x9cJoker""s Wildxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cDeuces Wildxe2x80x9d draw poker still display to the player a single five card hand and allow the player to discard unwanted cards and receive replacement cards. The payout table is modified to recognize the differing odds for achieving various poker hands when wild cards are involved. Furthermore, different poker hand rankings are used in the pay table to recognize different winning combinations that can be achieved using wild cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,140 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference) discloses a method of play of a game generally referred to as xe2x80x9cDouble Pokerxe2x80x9d. In this method of play, a player makes a wager to participate in the game and the player is dealt two distinct hands at the beginning of the game. Each hand is dealt from its own separate complete deck of cards and all five cards in each hand are dealt face up. The player selects one of the hands to play and the unselected hand is voided or removed from use. The player plays out the selected hand according to the conventional manner of play of traditional video poker games by discarding and receiving replacement cards. All replacement cards are dealt from the particular initial deck of cards from which the first five cards were dealt. The player wins or loses based on a payout schedule applied to preselected winning hand combinations and based on the number of coins wagered by the player.
The method of play disclosed in this ""140 patent has the drawback that the player only has two initial five cards hands to choose from and all five cards of each hand are displayed to the player.
WO 97/32285 discloses a gaming machine, that can be a video poker machine, which includes a special feature that is invoked when a special triggering combination of symbols occurs. The special feature is a wild card symbol that moves around the screen progressively replacing each symbol in the display. In connection with video poker, the example given is that an Ace in the first card position of a five card hand and a Club in the last card position of a five card would trigger the special feature. If the special feature is triggered, the wild card symbol would then be displayed sequentially in each card position and acts as a wild card in combination with the remaining cards of the hand. The player receives a prize for each new winning combination created by the wild card.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new form of video poker game that gives the player a bonus feature on a randomly occurring basis during the play of the game.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a multi-hand screen display which initially displays to the player four separate five card hands. Each hand is displayed with two cards face up and three cards face down. During the initial deal of these cards, either a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker may be randomly displayed to the player. The player selects one of the sets of two face up cards to play. After the player has selected one of the sets of two face up cards to play, the face down cards in the selected hand are then revealed so that the player can see all five cards of the hand. The player then discards any unwanted cards and receives replacement cards in the selected hand. During the dealing of the replacement cards, again either a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker may be randomly displayed to the player. The resulting final five card hand is compared to a payout schedule to determine if the player has achieved a winning hand combination. If the player has also received a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker or both Jokers, the player then receives a bonus feature in which the Joker becomes a wild card and is substituted seriatim for each card in the final five card hand that corresponds to the color of the Joker. A poker hand ranking is determined for each instance of substitution of the Joker and the player receives additional payouts in accordance with the pay table.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the player is given multiple options at the beginning of the game to select what the player perceives is the best possible potential hand and to receive, on a random basis, a wild card that is used when the play of the hand is complete to receive additional bonus payouts.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that the player is provided multiple initial starting hands so that the player has the opportunity to maximize his winnings when he is dealt a good starting hand and, when the player receives a wild card, to dramatically increase the winnings received by the player.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.
An electronic video draw poker machine is provided with a multi-hand screen display that can show a plurality of five card draw poker hands at the same time. In the preferred embodiment, four separate five card draw poker hands are displayed. A separate five card poker hand is displayed in each quadrant of the screen display with each five card hand being dealt from its associated, separate deck of playing cards. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the initial deal of each five card hand is two cards face up and three cards face down.
The player selects one of the initial five card hands to continue play. After the player has selected which initial five card hand he wishes to play, the remaining face down cards in the selected hand are revealed. The game then continues in the conventional manner of a draw poker game with the player discarding and drawing replacement cards with respect to the selected five card hand in an attempt to improve that hand. After the draw step is completed, the final five card hand is compared to a pay table based on poker hand ranking to determine if the player has achieved a winning combination. The amount of the payout to the player for a winning combination is based on the number of coins, tokens or credits wagered by the player and the type of winning hand achieved.
During the initial deal of the initial hands of cards or during the deal of replacement cards during the draw step of the method of play, either a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker or both may be randomly displayed to the player in a separate location on the screen display. If the player receives either a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker or both, the player then receives a bonus feature in which the Joker becomes a wild card and is substituted seriatim for each card in the final five card hand that corresponds to the color of the Joker. A poker hand ranking is determined for each instance of substitution of the Joker and the player receives additional in payouts in accordance with the pay table.
Alternatively, the player may make four wagers at the beginning of the play of a round of the game. Each wager is allocated to a separate hand. Four separate five card draw poker hands are displayed; the initial deal of each five card hand is two cards face up and three cards face down.
The player then selects one of the sets of two face up cards to continue play. After the player has selected which set of two face up cards he wishes to play, the face up cards are substituted into the other three hands in place of the original face up cards. The remaining face down cards in each hand are then revealed. The game then continues in the conventional manner with the player discarding and drawing replacement cards with respect to the each of the five card hands in an attempt to improve each hand.
After the draw step is completed, the final five cards of each hand are compared to a pay table based on poker hand ranking to determine if the player has achieved a winning combination. The amount of the payout to the player for a winning combination is based on the number of coins, tokens or credits wagered by the player and the type of winning hand achieved.
During the initial deal of the initial hands of cards or during the draw step in which replacement cards are dealt, either a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker or both may be randomly displayed to the player in a separate location on the screen display. If the player has also received a xe2x80x9cRedxe2x80x9d Joker or a xe2x80x9cBlackxe2x80x9d Joker or both, the player then receives a bonus feature in which the Joker becomes a wild card and is substituted seriatim for each card in each final five card hand that corresponds to the color of the Joker. A poker hand ranking is determined for each instance of substitution of the Joker and the player receives additional payouts in accordance with the pay table.
Alternatively, instead of using separate decks of playing cards for each hand, all of the initial hands can be dealt from a single deck of playing cards. After the player selects which of the initial hands the player wishes to play, all of the cards from the non-selected hands are returned to the deck to be available as possible replacement cards during the draw step.